Nairobi: Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, announced the winners of ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ Media Recognition Awards 2017 at an award ceremony held yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya.

The awards were initiated with the aim to recognise and appreciate professional journalists and media students who have produced accurate, informative and compelling stories about infertility, infertile women or couples.

“We are delighted to honor the winners of ‘Merck More Than a Mother’ Media Recognition Awards 2017. I congratulate all the winners and thank all the journalists and media students who sent us their work. I strongly believe that Media can play a significant role in sensitising people about sensitive issues such as infertility and stigma attached to it. It can help raise awareness about male infertility and infertility prevention, said Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of Merck More Than a Mother.

We have also started two relevant hashtags #MenToo can suffer infertility not women only, and #NoForInfertilityStigma to appeal to all our media partners to start this movement across their wide platforms,” she added.

Dr Kalej continued, “Not only media but Art also has the capacity and influence to make the problem felt, which further stimulates emotions and leads to engagement action. So, we have collaborated with famous singers; Suzanna Owíyo and Octopizzo from Kenya, Tom Close from Rwanda and Rozzy from Sierra Leone to launch three theme songs “Worriers”, “Life is Bigger”, “More than a Mother” addressing the issue with specific focus on Male infertility to encourage men to speak up about their infertility and join the treatment journey with their wives.

The songs were released yesterday during the award ceremony and I personally believe that they will add significant value to influence the culture change we are advocating for at all levels,” she added.

“These awards encouraged the journalists and media to focus on infertility and the stigma attached to it, which is quite prevalent in Africa but is never spoken about. Primarily women are blamed for infertility, but it is for media to now educate that fertility is a shared responsibility and men too can be the cause of infertility,” said Tom Mshindi, Editor-in-chief, Nation Media Group.

“Merck foundation is doing the daunting task of challenging the perception of infertile women, their role and worth in society in order to shift the culture of discrimination. These awards are a step in the same direction,” emphasised William Pike, Director, Radio Africa Group Star Publications.

Present during the award ceremony, Sarah Opendi, Minister of State of Health, Uganda, said, “I am so happy to see that Merck Foundation is making efforts at multiple levels to break stigma around infertility. Partnering with media and art is indeed a very smart step to address this sensitive issue.”

Here are the details of first award winners from profession journalist’s category from each segment The First Award from the Multimedia Segment was conferred to Namukabo L Werungah and her team from NTV Kenya for their excellent story named ‘A tale of pain and shame of childless women in Busia’. The team was rewarded with USD 5000 at the ceremony.

The Second Award was given to Musaka Abdalla Tiff from Record TV Network, Uganda for his story named ‘Living with the burden of barrenness’.

The First Award from the Print Media Segment was received by Gardy Chacha, Senior Health and Science Reporter from Standard Newspaper, Kenya. He was selected for his soul-stirring story named ‘Cecilia Wairimu One woman, Three marriages, 11 years of Infertility’. He was rewarded with USD 1500.

The second award was given to Mashaka Bonifas Mgeta, Jambo Lee News, Tanzania for his story ‘Infertility Promotes Violence against Women in Tarime’.

The First Award from the Online Media Segment was given to Molatelo Mainetje, News and Current Affair Producer and Documentary Filmmaker from South Africa for her short film called ‘Womb Man’. She was rewarded with USD 1500.

The Second Award was given to Maryanne Waweru-Wanyama, Blogger- Mummy Tales and Maternal Health Advocate, Kenya for her story ‘You Rather birth to a Mad Man, than Never having Given Birth at all’.

Asha Bakidusa, Journalist with Royal Media Services Limited, Under Bahari FM, Kenya was given the First Award for the Radio Segment for her program on ‘How family men supporting their spouses in cases of Infertility’. She was rewarded with USD 1500.

Here are the details of First Award winners from media student’s category from each segment.

The First Award from the Online Media Segment was bagged by Lilian Kaivilu, Freelance Journalist and Founder of Impacthub Media, Linguistics Media and Communication Student at MOI University, Kenya, for her story ‘The wrath of barrenness in Kamba culture’. She was rewarded with USD 1000.

The Second Award was given to Stephanie Odhiambo, Everest Media Solution, Day Star University, Kenya for her story ‘Merck Foundation CEO, Rasha Kelej on course to fight for ‘infertile’ women’.

The First Award from the Print Media Segment will be given to Sergio Simao Raimundo from Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. He was selected for his story named ‘Infertility in the South of Mozambique’. He was rewarded with USD 1000.

Merck foundation announced the call for application for ‘Merck more than a Mother’ Media Recognition Award 2018 at the end of the ceremony and encouraged all African media to be advocate for the campaign and apply for the competition.

The Award ceremony will be followed by Merck Foundation’s first ‘Merck Health Media Training’ to break stigma around infertility and improve awareness about male infertility, with the aim to train African journalists about the international standards and media ethics for reporting sensitive issues like infertility. (ANI)